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Welcome to Morcan Books & Films, the blog devoted to providing a unique perspective and intelligent commentary on books and films. It includes commentary on our own books and films – i.e. novels and screenplays co-written by the Morcans, and feature films produced by, or in development with, Morcan Motion Pictures.
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The recent release, action-thriller novel, THE DOGON INITIATIVE, highlights some of the many myths and theories surrounding the fascinating Dogon people of Mali. In particular, their unexplained knowledge of the invisible-to-the-eye Sirius B white dwarf star, the rings of Saturn and other heavenly bodies, and their rumored ancestral relationship to ancient Egyptians.

In our new action-adventure THE DOGON INITIATIVE (The Deniables, Book 1), the CIA is intent on obtaining proof that the Dogon of West Africa possess ancient knowledge – knowledge that predates modern astronomy.

Early in the novel, two key members of the agency’s New Paradigms Team lobby their superior to order the Deniables taskforce to photograph cave paintings of the Sirius star system in the Dogon’s homeland in Mali.

Excerpt follows:

Catrell placed a tablet she was holding on the desktop in front of the senior agent. On its screen was a photo of a cave painting.

“This is a painting that accurately depicts the Sirius star system… One of many such paintings to be found in the caves along the Bandiagara Escarpment, in the Dogon homeland. Pointing at a smaller star on the system’s periphery, she added, “And this Sirius B, the white dwarf companion star of Sirius A and the star said to be invisible to the human eye.”

“Said to be?” Daley asked.

“Modern day astronomers assure us that is the case,” said Catrell, “but the Dogon believe their forefathers have known of its existence for centuries. They insist that Moussa’s ancient forefather, the original Moussa Diarra, first discovered it… Long before the invention of telescopes.”

“So this so-called invisible white dwarf star can be seen in the cave paintings,” Daley said to himself. “I assume they’ve been carbon-dated?”

“They have,” said Catrell, “but carbon dating of cave paintings can be an inexact science.”

“Which is why sourcing and authenticating a painting that features ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics would seal the deal as far as present-day academics are concerned,” said Einhorn re-joining the discussion. “It would prove beyond doubt that, one, the painting is truly ancient, and, two, the Dogon have knowledge that predates modern astronomy.”

Daley formed a steeple with his fingers to rest his chin upon as he surveyed the two agents and considered their pitch.

At length he said, “Remind me why this is so important.”

“Because it would support the theory that the Dogon have unexplained knowledge,” said Einhorn. “Such a revelation would reflect well on a people considered by the ill-informed to be little more than ignorant desert nomads and cave-dwellers.”

“And the unearthing of such knowledge could well have benefits for all Mankind,” Catrell quickly added.

“And you want me to order our taskforce in Mali to locate the mystery cave in question and photograph or film the mystery painting after they reach Tireli?” Daley said.

The two agents nodded.

“Why wait until now to drop this on me?” the senior agent asked.

“We’ve been primarily focused on the logistics of the Dogon Initiative up to this point,” Catrell explained. “Only now are we able to focus on the humanitarian issues.”

Daley accepted that explanation.

The women waited in silence while their superior considered what they were asking of him. They had nothing more to say. They’d delivered their best pitch. Now it was up to Daley.

Finally, the senior agent nodded.

“Very well,” he said, “you’ve convinced me.” He indicated the meeting was over and motioned to his subordinates to leave. Before they reached the door, he mumbled, “Oh… good pitch by the way.”

“A novel of epic length, THE DOGON INITIATIVE proves once again that the Morcans are a very fine writing team. This is a tale that pleads to be a film…Highly recommended.” – That’s Amazon Hall of Fame Top 50 reviewer Grady Harp’s take on the new release action-thriller by Lance & James Morcan, the authors of nine published novels.

Excerpts from Grady’s Amazon review follow:

The Morcans know how to deliver intrigue, both on scientific subjects and most assuredly on suspense thrillers. They invite us in with their moody Prologue which in addition to giving us insight in the tale to follow allows us to appreciate some fine African ‘history’. ‘The first full moon of the rainy season was a momentous occasion for the Dogon people of Mali. It marked the day, many countless moons ago when, according to legend at least, Moussa Diarra, one of their ancient forefathers, discovered Sirius B, the second star in the Sirius solar system and one that wouldn’t be rediscovered by astronomers until hundreds of years later. And then only with the aid of telescopes. Every year, Dogon used the occasion to celebrate Moussa’s discovery and to pay homage to the greatest of all their spiritual leaders. Moussa had ruled over Dogon when the Mali Empire was the largest in West Africa. Its western border stretched all the way to the Atlantic Ocean and it was a center of culture, language, education, mathematics, science, law, trade, and great wealth. It was a time when Dogon had considerable more influence. In the present day they are a persecuted minority facing cultural extinction as they’re continually attacked by larger ethnic and religious fundamentalist groups whose number include disenchanted Muslims.’

With that flavor of credible authenticity the story proceeds – mood set, characters arise. Apropos of the authors the lead character is Australian – security consultant Dean Hawkins. Or as the summary of the plot states, ‘A group of foreign mercenaries hired as deniable assets by a newly-formed humanitarian division of the CIA is tasked with saving Mali’s persecuted Dogon people from genocide. The operation must be carried out in stealth while journeying across some of West Africa’s most hostile terrain. They are also instructed to help solve an ancient astronomical mystery linked to the pyramids of Egypt. Nicknamed the Deniables because their existence isn’t officially acknowledged by the CIA, the mercenaries are crazy enough to accept the mission anyway. However, they soon find themselves fighting for their lives when they get caught in the middle of warring ethnic factions in Mali. Their only way to survive is to join with the Dogon in a race against the clock. The stakes are so high that not only could an entire indigenous group be wiped off the face of the Earth, but all evidence that supports advanced ancient technology theories surrounding the Dogon and a lost civilization thesis may be destroyed in the process. Inspired by a true-life mystery of astronomy.’

It appears the universe may not have started with a BANG! That is if the latest science challenging the notion of the Big Bang Theory is correct.

This revelation has gotten members of our ‘Underground Knowledge’ discussion group on Goodreads.com fairly worked up, with those of an atheistic or scientific bent butting heads with those of a religious persuasion as members debate the role of God in the creation of the universe.

It (the discussion that is) all began with a comment by a group moderator. He drew attention to a news item that quotes a theoretical physicist as declaring new research suggests the age of the universe could be infinite. That same article quotes another scientist as declaring “We (scientists) really have no right to say that the universe begins with a big bang.”

The research referred to, incidentally, pertains to a paper published Feb. 4 in the journal Physical Letters B, and another paper that is currently under peer review, which was published in the preprint journal arXiv.

One of our members responded by quoting Genesis 1:1 – In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. She adds, “It’s the simple truth that I believe in.”

Another member countered by saying, “Unfortunately it’s not a simple truth: it is not simple and may not be the truth. E.g. who or what created god? According to Genesis, the universe was created about 6500 BC or something, whereas we know the Universe to be 13.8 billion years old. So Genesis is wrong anyway. “Who or what is god” is equivalent to the question to which Physics is seeking an answer. The big bang hypothesis assumes quantum mechanics is equivalent to god… With the big bang, there is a better explanation for reality and god isn’t needed. By the Occam’s razor principle we can therefore do without him.

To which the first member answered, “To answer the question, “who or what created god?” Nothing and no one created God. God has simply always existed. He was. He is. And He will be.”

Members’ (further) comments follow. (Names withheld):

At the risk of again being laughed at; the paths to god encompass the pre-destined pursuits of failing “knowledge” and the beauty of faith.

Other hypotheses such as a recycling universe, which is certainly not a new idea, may have a different role for quantum mechanics. Something that goes on forever (a recycling universe) is unsatisfactory as it doesn’t explain how it got there in the first place. Why is there something rather than nothing?

I believe the Big Bang Theory is very ridiculous and requires EVEN MORE FAITH than believing that a loving God created the universe in six days (which is totally the truth, and very simple to accept.)

Keep in mind most modern Christians do not state the world is 4-6,000 years old anymore. Most accept that the Earth is billions of years old as per science’s findings. The belief that it’s only a few thousand years old is now about as popular a Christian belief as the old Biblical viewpoint that the Earth is the center of the Universe. Certainly some Christian sects and other minority offshoots (e.g. Seventh Day Adventists) push the old 4,000 year old Biblical belief, but not mainstream Christianity as a whole…FYI, the Aboriginal (native) people in Australia are estimated to go back to around 50,000 years.

The bottom line is the Bible was written by men (not any supernatural entity) and written in a time when people had little scientific understanding…

The Bible was Not written by men. It was spoken through men but God-breathed (God spoke it it to them or supernaturally showed them what to write).

Any Christian scholar will inform you the Bible was most certainly written by men. Afterall, nobody is saying the books that formed the Bible fell out of the sky already written. Each book in the Bible had authors – hence the Book of Job, the Gospel of Mark, the Gospel of Matthew etc. Furthermore, it’s historically proven many or all of these books were edited at later dates (e.g. the Council of Nicea biblical edits in 353AD conducted by the Romans).

There are actually various other scientific theories that have been proposed regarding the background radiation. For example, Japanese scientist and member of this group Takaaki Musha has proposed that the cosmic background radiation is not due to the after-glow of a Big Bang, but rather it’s due to the Cherenkov radiation from tachyon pairs created from a ZPF vacuum.

Back to the point about the universe possibly recycling. Didn’t Hubble himself have that idea? Wasn’t he the one who thought up the phrase “big bang” as a frustrated way of saying how silly the whole idea was? Of course science is full of silly ideas that ultimately survive the full test of scientific enquiry, such as evolution itself. It will probably take a long time to dismiss the “big bang” theory [no pun intended!]. We can get very close to the point when the current universe began — a tiny fraction of a second. After this point the laws of physics as currently known can work to produce the universe as it is. However close we can get we may never know for sure how the universe began.

There may indeed be a few ideas going around such as parallel universes and/or holographic loop, but these don’t seem testable. This makes it unsatisfactory. I can’t possibly see how the universe could be physically infinite. Closed, certainly. In other words if we keep racing for the exit then we can’t get out, even after an infinite time. This is because ultimately space curves in on itself according to principles of general relativity.

Membership of our fledgling ‘Underground Knowledge’ discussion group on Goodreads.com has topped 640, making it one of the fastest growing groups on the popular literary site.

The ‘Underground Knowledge’ group is aimed at those with an interest in the world we live in and a desire to learn or to uncover “underground knowledge” on important issues of our times. Everyone’s welcome to join! All you need is an enquiring mind. Our members include scientists, teachers, historians, authors, military and intelligence agency personnel, bankers, housewives, whistleblowers, students, former police officers and many more.

There’s a third scenario in the human versus alien debate regarding antigravity technologies. This scenario would see a combination of the two extremes – meaning it isn’t fully human technology and isn’t fully alien, but a hybrid, or fusion, of the two.

We explore this in our latest book in The Underground Knowledge Series — ANTIGRAVITY PROPULSION: Human or Alien Technologies?

An excerpt from the book follows:

The theory suggests alien technology somehow arrived on Earth in the mid-20th Century in an event like the 1947 Roswell crash. A flying saucer was found and then reverse-engineered by reproducing the alien inventor’s product after careful study.

The aforementioned claims of Area 51 employee Bob Lazar would fit into this category. Besides Lazar, many other ex-military personnel have claimed the US did indeed successfully reverse-engineer recovered ET spacecraft and eventually learn how to manufacture such antigravity craft en masse.

“Many of the engineers I interviewed worked on reverse-engineering technology. It’s a hallmark of Area 51.” –Annie Jacobsen, from a Democracy Now TV interview discussing her book Area 51: An Uncensored History of America’s Top Secret Military Base.

Reverse engineering, incidentally, is the reproduction of another manufacturer’s product following detailed examination of its construction or composition.

After the Roswell crash, there were reports in the following months and years of successive UFO crashes in America. Which raises the question: Were technologies gained by the US via reverse engineering recovered craft from these crash sites?

According to Colonel Philip J. Corso’s writings in his aforementioned book The Day After Roswell, the UFO craft recovered at Roswell seemed to have the ability to store as well as conduct a vast amount of electric current. He suspected the craft was simply a capacitor that stored current controlled or vectored by the pilot and able to recharge itself with some form of built-in generator, just like a very advanced flying battery.

Corso believed if this craft was propelled by electromagnetic antigravity propulsion, its flight might be greatly influenced by outer electric fields. Hence its flight could be disturbed by a thunder storm or radiation of strong electromagnetic fields such as radar systems.

From the debris of crashed UFO’s, so Corso claims, US scientists invented integrated circuit chips, fiber optics, lasers and super-tenacity fibers by using the reverse engineering techniques.

If these theories are true, then besides classified exotic inventions like flying saucers, most modern technologies available to the public, such as computers and smart phones, may in fact be extraterrestrial in origin.

“I have contact with certain diplomats who not only confirm meetings have been taking place between some government officials and an alien race, but have been receiving assistance from this race to advance technology to enable us to meet hostile aliens on a level playing field. My contacts have been present at these meetings and have met these aliens who are benevolent towards us but will not act with aggression towards any life form unless in self defence, but they are prepared to help us advance our technology.” –Tony Dodd. Former British police officer.